Pavlov VR Open Alpha Now Available On Oculus Quest

One of VR’s most popular military shooters makes a surprise appearance on the Quest.

After spending just a few hours with the Oculus Quest hardware, Pavlov VR developer David Villz (davevillz) confirmed yesterday via Twitter that the fast-paced multiplayer shooter will be heading to the standalone headset. Today, davevillz announced that Pavlov VR Quest, Open Alpha is now available for Quest owners to sideload onto their headsets.

In a series of follow-up tweets responding to curious fans eager to learn more about the Quest port, Villz shed more light on some of the differences between the original PC VR release and the upcoming standalone edition. One important note is that while the developer does intend to release Pavlov VR on the official Oculus Store, the game will not be heading to the Oculus Rift-compatible store.

https://twitter.com/davevillz/status/1131321855405645831

“Only to quest store or w/e is called,” states Villz in a tweet. “For PCVR on steam due to workshop – there’s no reason for it to be in Rift store without it.”

The Oculus Quest release will also lack a dedicated workshop, as well as custom map creation; although Villz promises he and his team will be taking inspiration from player creations to develop original content specifically for the standalone headset. As far as cross-platform support goes, don’t expect to be battling alongside your friends on the HTC Vive anytime soon.

“It’s fundamentally not ideal to have crossplay, even tho it’s possible,” adds Villz. “I example, Index Players at 144hz have a huge advantage over Quest player who would play at 72hz.

https://twitter.com/davevillz/status/1131490962901913600

While it’s unclear as to when we can expect a full launch on Quest, Villz has already released an extremely rough open alpha which Quest owners can sideload onto their headsets right now. While the alpha is completely free to download, it does take quite a few steps to get it loaded properly onto your headset.

First, you’ll have to set up your Quest for sideloading. You’ll need to signup as a developer through Oculus by creating an organization for your personal account; it’s 100% free and takes less than 30 seconds. This will allow you to activate developer mode via the companion app on your smartphone. After that, you’ll have to download a particular set of software from Oculus that will allow you to sideload apps from unknown sources onto your device.

Image Credit: davevillz

VR YouTuber Tyriel Wood recently released an excellent tutorial on how to begin sideloading on your headset if you’d like some additional reference. Davevillz also provides his own set of specific instructions for accessing this particular alpha.

Again, this is just an open alpha build, so expect a whole lot of bugs and glitches. We gave the demo a shot this morning and while we had fun trying out the wide array of weaponry available, we noticed plenty of missing textures and broken objects. Still, to build and release a playable alpha of Pavlov VR after only a day with the hardware is an extremely impressive accomplishment. With the Quest catalog is currently dominated by “family-friendly” titles, it’ll be nice to have a more serious, gritty experience available on the standalone headset.